Beto O’Rourke

The Personality Profile
of U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke

May 30, 2019

A preliminary psychological analysis of U.S. Representative Beto O’Rourke by Jada Gilbert, Grace Ekstrom, Nicole Praska, Jack Her, Meghan Ortizcazarin, and Aubrey Immelman, Ph.D., at theUnit for the Study of Personality in Politics, revealed that Rep. O’Rourke’s primary personality patterns are Outgoing/congenial and Dauntless/adventurous, complemented by secondary Accommodating/cooperative and Ambitious/confident features. In summary, O’Rourke may be characterized as an adventurous extravert.

The poster presents the results of an indirect assessment of the personality of U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke — a contender for the Democratic nomination in the 2020 presidential election — from the conceptual perspective of personologist Theodore Millon. Information concerning O’Rourke was collected from biographical sources and media reports and synthesized into a personality profile using the Millon Inventory of Diagnostic Criteria (MIDC), which yields 34 normal and maladaptive personality classifications congruent with DSM–III–R, DSM–IV, and DSM–5.

The personality profile yielded by the MIDC was analyzed on the basis of interpretive guidelines provided in the MIDC and Millon Index of Personality Styles manuals. O’Rourke’s primary personality patterns were found to be Outgoing/congenial and Dauntless/adventurous, complemented by secondary Accommodating/cooperative and Ambitious/confident features.

In essence, O’Rourke may be characterized as an adventurous extravert. Following personologist Theodore Millon (1996, pp. 243–244), this particular personality composite may be described as follows:

They make a good first impression and seem sociable and sincere, exhibiting such spontaneity and charm that others quickly lower their defenses. The combination of extraversion and adventurousness, however, renders this personality composite more persuasive than the basic outgoing pattern, and for ends beyond simple attention and approval.

For some variants of the adventurous extravert composite pattern, outgoing traits serve simply as a convenient method of making contacts and opening doors, but overlay characteristics fundamental to the dauntless pattern, including a willingness to push the limits of social conventions and to take personal risks. Provisionally, O’Rourke’s overall profile suggests that this particular subtype provides the right fit for O’Rourke.

Other variants of the adventurous extravert composite pattern combine outgoing and more pronounced dauntless characteristics. These individuals synergize the extravert’s adaptive social skills, charm, and ability to read the motives and desires of others with more calculating, less sincere interpersonal maneuvers designed to advance their personal agenda. Given his secondary accommodating features, this particular subtype appears less likely to be the correct fit for O’Rourke.

Related interest: Formal announcement of candidacy

Beto O’Rourke enters the 2020 presidential campaign(Matt Flegenheimer and Jonathan Martin, New York Times, March 14, 2019) — Beto O’Rourke, the 46-year-old former Texas congressman whose near-miss Senate run last year propelled him to Democratic stardom, announced on Thursday that he was running for president, betting that a broad message of national unity and generational change will lift him above a slate of committed progressives offering big-ticket policy ideas. …

I am running to serve you as the next president. The challenges we face are the greatest in living memory. No one person can meet them on their own. Only this country can do that, and only if we build a movement that includes all of us. Say you’re in: https://t.co/EKLdkVET2upic.twitter.com/lainXyvG2n

Rep. Beto O’Rourke announced for president on March 14, 2019 and withdrew from the race on November 1, 2019. He endorsed Joe Biden for president on March 2, 2020.

Notable media report

Beto O’Rourke drops out of the presidential race(Alexander Burns, New York Times, Nov. 1, 2019) — Former Representative Beto O’Rourke of Texas announced on Friday that he was dropping out of the presidential race, ending a campaign in which he struggled for months to recapture the energy of his insurgent 2018 Senate candidacy on a national stage full of other big personalities and liberal champions. … He is not expected to run for any other office in 2020, despite persistent efforts by party leaders and political donors to coax him into another bid for the Senate. … He effectively unveiled his run for the White House in a cover story for Vanity Fair in which he declared he was “just born to be in it.” He later described the cover, along with his choice of words, as a mistake. …